Goblins are.. stereotypical Jewish?

Firstly before you think it, I am not anti semitic, infact I'm all about human rights and against fascism. I'm also gay to know what it means to see people have something against your culture.

What I want to discuss though is something I can't get out of my head, every time I see a goblin in wow. There mannerisms, there accent, how they have this obsession with gold all the time and big noses. Your probably thinking right now 'what, is this how you think all jewish people are like?', No, it is not.
However, this IS how comedy shows like south park, family guy, american dad, and sometimes the simpsons portrays the Jewish community.

Now, I'm not raising this as an example of what I think they would base the jewish culture on, but to me, it seems like the wow team purposely designed the goblins to have many of the mannerisms you'd expect a show like south park of family would portray them as. Maybe it was done on a subconscious level even, but its still there.

The reason I brought this up, is because the other day when I was in orgrimmar, a player on his goblin character, low level, was asking for gold, for whatever reason maybe he didn't have a main to get some. But anyway the first response this guy got was "Ah ha, a goblin asking for gold, typical jew !'. I did tell the guy he was being a dick, but it made me think, is the way blizzard portrayed the goblins something that causes people to think this, since this is how comedy shows parody jewish people?

I think that people will always find similarities between races. And I also think that people think too much into things. Goblins look like goblins, and they've always been about making gold etc. I don't think Blizzard ever thought "Let's make a Jew race".

I think the answer is yes, intentional or not, anti-semitic or not, goblins are clearly stereotypes of a stereotypical Jew.

I don't think getting into Why this is the case is going to yield many positive results...

Probably not, I'm just glad I'm not the only one whos noticed it. Maybe it bothers me in a way since I don't like gay people only being portrayed as stereotypical pansies, so I tend to notice these things. Still, if its noticed it seems weird that blizzard was able to instigate it into the game.

Assuming you're taking the fact of them being money grabbing as the main resemblance between a fictional race, and a religious stereotype, then quite frankly the vast majority of people are, from the premises you seem to be going on, stereotypically Jewish. I know a lot of people, my self included, who always try to get the best deals for things and try to be quite thrifty with money. So that aspect of the stereotype is pretty damn broad.

But there are other things that are missing. The stereotypical Jewish person is mostly depicted as wearing traditional orthodox Jewish clothing (you know, like in that family guy clip you linked yourself) I.e. the dark suit, the hat, curls, etc. Goblins, obviously have none of these, and these are really what makes the definition between a stereotypical Jew, and a stereotypical greedy person.

So in my opinion, no. Goblins aren't stereotypically Jewish. They have a thick Jersey accent, not an Israeli one. They don't wear skull caps. They're simply greedy. I think you're looking too much into it.

---------- Post added 2012-07-21 at 11:49 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Trassk

Maybe not on a conscious level, but if someone actually thinks this kind of thing when thinking of a goblin then somethings passed the bar there.

I remember goblins before cata, how they were these high pitched squeaky voices clowns. After cata they were revamped into the ones now, and maybe something perpetuated more into it.

In their lore, they've always been vying to get money. That's why those "high pitched clowns" have always been neutral (bar the second war I think?) - they can sell goods and services to both Alliance and Horde. And still do. The Horde has just gained the Alliance of one cartel.

I've walked the realms of the dead. I have seen the infinite dark. Nothing you say. Or do. Could possibly frighten me.

We are not monsters! We are not the mindless wretches of a ghoul army! NO! We are a force even more terrifying! We are the chill in a coward's spine! We are the instruments of an unyielding ire! WE ARE THE FORSAKEN!

Those who do not stand with the Forsaken stand against them. And those who stand against the Forsaken will not stand long.

Let me rephrase: What does that say about trolls? What stereotypes of Jamaicans are they implying?
Another point is that game designers are, like all of us, influenced by the world we live in. Exaggeration and humor is a way to convey this notion, I don't really know if Goblins were formed with the jewish people in mind, but it seems likely.

Fantasy races are very often based loosely on real-world cultures. In WoW, they're all pretty much stereotypical something.

I wouldn't say Goblins are solely stereotypical Jewish (note, there are always differences between stereotypes and reality, stereotypes are merely extreme caricatures), although that aspect certainly flavours some of their physical attributes. Goblins seem to represent more closely the corporate Western world, in particular American culture. Have you played through the goblin starting area? It's full of jokes and silly references to that kind of "culture". Middle-class, middle-management, money-obsessed, artificial corporate culture. The idea of getting as much money as quickly as possible and without regard for ethics.

Let me rephrase: What does that say about trolls? What stereotypes of Jamaicans are they implying?
Another point is that game designers are, like all of us, influenced by the world we live in. Exaggeration and humor is a way to convey this notion, I don't really know if Goblins were formed with the jewish people in mind, but it seems likely.

the way they speak, the fact they are laid back, the fact they do Capoeira, they say Mon' and their king has the word Rasta in it.

Very much this. If you follow the story through the start zone, or read the short story of the Goblins you'd feel even more like this. I've always seen them as these small, ruthless, big city mobsters that have a love for blowing stuff up.

I'd like to ask something, since we are talking about a religion, which is a system of beliefs and not a race of people, can you tell me what a stereotypical christian looks like just to use an example? I would have thought since all the jews ran to america from eastern europe during world war 2 that its more fair to say thats what eastern europeans look like rather than jews since eastern european people can breed traits unlike religion. Just something this thread made me have a ponder about and I thought id throw it out there